Colorful Recipes to Boost Your Health

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A Culinary Color Revolution

For busy mom Frances Largeman-Roth, RD, dinner time for her kids once meant beige pasta and chicken dishes. “I found myself offering a slate of foods that were bland and colorless,” she says. “I was bored with what we were eating, and I knew I had to be proactive about fixing the problem.”

She knew that naturally colorful foods are key to good nutrition; the challenge was getting her kids to eat them. Then her daughter Willa came home from school excited about the color wheel, and she got an idea. What if instead of introducing veggies to her kids by name, she presented them based on color? Her instinct was right, and it inspired these recipes from her new cookbook, Eating in Color.

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Berry-Nectarine Trifle

As far back as Roman times, the color red has served as a symbol of power. The same could be said of red foods -- like raspberries, red peppers and tomatoes. They’re loaded with antioxidantsthat may help protect against certain diseases, including cancers. And the antioxidant lycopene, which gives tomatoes their red color, may help fight heart disease and macular degeneration.

The Berry-Nectarine Trifle, full of bright red raspberries and juicy nectarines, contains vitamin C, folate (an important B-vitamin) and compounds that work to combat metabolic syndrome. Bonus: a serving is less than 350 calories.

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Corn and Basil Crab Toasts

If you’re looking to slim down and get healthy, make green your go-to color. Green fruits, veggies and herbs are loaded with a wide range of important vitamins and minerals. And dark, leafy greens are super low in calories -- raw spinach has just 7 calories per cup!

This easy, yet company-worthy recipe for Corn and Basil Crab Toasts has two green ingredients. Although avocados have gotten a bad rap for being fattening, their monounsaturated fatsare actually the healthy kind -- and avocados have antioxidants that may help prevent certain cancers. Fresh basil also has health-boosting antioxidants.

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Twice-Baked Blues

Blue and purple fruits and veggies get their gorgeous, jewel-toned hues from anthocyanins -- plant pigments that may help protect against cancer, urinary tract infections, herpes outbreaks and heart disease. Foods in this color family include blueberries, eggplants and blue or purple potatoes. (Yes, potatoes exist in these colors! And they can lower blood pressure.)

If you thought potatoes couldn’t be a part of your weight-loss plan, Largeman-Roth’s recipe for Twice-Baked Blues will have you thinking again. At just 105 calories for two, you can indulge guilt-free.